Lying Cold
by lovingthis
Summary: Vagas is being plagued by a serial rapist/murderer. Nick is, as we all know, an emotional person. But this time it's different. Nick/OC.
1. Chapter 1

This beauty here has been sat collecting dust in my fanfiction folder on my laptop. I thought it was high time I dusted it off, gave it a polish and re uploaded it.

It's a Nick/OC story, if you didn't figure that out already, and I'm planning on allowing the rating to increase at a later chapter.

A special thanks to Smiley90 for encouraging me to do this!

And all that's left to say is- Enjoy!

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><p>"CSI have been in downtown Vegas since the early hours of this morning after the discovery of another body. The victim has been identified as twenty-three year old Charlotte Adams. Her family spoke out earlier pleading with anyone who has or may have any information on the man who has been named the most dangerous threat to the city in over a decade."<p>

The image changed to the faces of her parents and siblings. Mr Joseph Adams' face filled the screen as he spoke "Charlotte was our baby. She may have been grown up, independent and headstrong but she will always be our little baby. She was filled with life and promise." He began choking on his words as he started to cry. "That someone had taken all that away from her, away from us... We want her... her..." The grown man struggled with his words. ".. Her.. rapist and... her killer caught. No family should go through this. Please, please if anyone has any information at all about her killer. If you saw something last night. If you heard anything, anything at all. Please.""As the police continue the investigation they send a message to the public."

Detective James Brass spoke to the hoard of news people clambering to get their question heard. "Due the nature of the case we cannot disclose any details however we do warn all women not to do out after dark. Do not leave your house without a friend or telling someone where you are going. If leaving is necessary meet someone at your destination and give them an estimated time of arrival. It may save your life. Also if you live by yourself, go to a friends or get people over. To be honest we're not fussed which you decide so long as you make sure you are not alone. Don't assume you'll be safe in your own home; this man knows no bounds."

As the reporters, who had silenced themselves to hear this statement, rushed forward once more the screen moved back to the studio leaving the viewers unable to see what may have become of the harassed Detective."Although the police refuse to comment the victims have all been in their early twenties of average height with light skin colour and medium to long brown hair..."The news reader moved on from images of destruction due to earthquakes, to reports on a burglary in a jewellery store and a shooting at a newsagents.

The remainder of the news faded into the background as the onions hit the frying pan and started sizzling. Louise picked up the remote, put a reminder to make the TV change back to the news for the next headlines before turning it off. Any other time she'd accuse the media of needless scaremongering but this was different. The chicken was next to hit the pan. She didn't enjoy cooking much, especially without company to talk to, it was more that she needed a distraction. As a human being with emotions watching and listening to news of the rape and subsequent murders of several girls had been getting to her. But what was really creeping her out were the pictures of the women; they looked so similar they could have passed as her sisters had they met in life.

After seeing Nick's face flash on the TV at the crime scene the thought of him was brought to the front of her mind. Since the first body turned up two months prior the Las Vegas CSI team had been on demand non stop. The determination of the team to solve this case had resulted in overtime for the entire group. What worried Louise was not the lack of sleep from which the team must be suffering but high of emotions that would be the result. Nick was an emotional person at the best of times and short tempers within the group were sure to set off an argument or two. She froze with her knife over the chopping board looking into the frying pan trying to figure out what was missing and smiled wryly for a second at the thought that the idea of "or two" was an understatement.

She pulled the pan off the heat as she realised that she had forgotten to cut the peppers. Picking her knife back up again she soon got lost in the cooking. The food was pulled off the cooker and being placed into the oven when Louise heard a car pull into her driveway. Looking up she noticed that in the past thirty minutes the sun had falling behind the city buildings. It had darkened the sky and she, having neglected to turn on the light, now stood in the dark. It was after that moment of realisation, when she stood blinded to her surroundings, that she found she hadn't heard the door open. Knife in hand she edged her way to the entrance before laughing at her own paranoia and tossed her weapon to the sink.

Looking out from the front window, Louise recognised the car parked in the drive. Nick was still sat inside, hands gripping the steering wheel as the automatic light faded to darkness. He seemed motionless, his expression troubled by whatever though had captured his mind. Turning on the porch light she opened the front door. As she approached him Nick made no signs of acknowledgment, so without saying a word Louise came to be sat on the floor of the car at Nick's feet, a hand reaching up to touch his wrist. They stayed like that for an immeasurable length of time as Louise's legs started to numb from the cold and pan of the car floor.

A car, screeching around the corner into the road, pulled Nick from his stupor. In one fluid motion he got out of the car pulling Louise as he went. Still silent, he held her waist dragging her inside without giving her legs a chance to recover. As he crossed the threshold of the house he turned, pinning Louise to the door while he closed it. His body pressed against hers he began to turn the locks, one on the door handle, one just above, a bolt that ran near the top of the door and the last bolt into the floor.

Nick was forced to move away to slide the last bolt home. This allowed Louise to step around him, heading back to the kitchen, shaking one of her legs to rid it of pins and needles. She smiled as she remembered how thoughtful his initial concern for her had been.

After the third murder and it was clear there was a serial killer Nick had insisted on increasing the protection on her home. She'd found it sweet and agreed to him changing the locks. So, when she returned home the next day she was surprised to find 3 more locks than expected.

As the total number of murders increased Nick grew more and more protective. After the fourth murder it was agreed that she shouldn't work crime scenes for the duration of the case as her similar appearance to the victims and the media coverage of the crime lab could increase the likelihood of her being targeted. Instead Louise stayed at home, watched the news and took food to colleagues when she knew the news crews wouldn't be based outside. As nice as it was to have time off from work, Louise couldn't enjoy while she knew she wasn't out there, in the thick of it, arguing with her team and giggling at Gils' Sudden Suggestions Of Great Importance.

As she turned the heat up on the food she looked back to her front door only to find Nick stood a hair's width away, watching her. Moving the short distance to wrap his arms around her, he pulled her close. And after a few seconds of silence, with his breath hot on her ear whispered, "She looked just like you… Exactly like you."

What could she say to that? That she was fine? No, that wasn't the point; a young woman was lying dead and abused. Or she could lie, give false hope and tell him they were going to find this guy. But evidence was running thin on the ground. The maniac carrying out the rape and murders was... Well, Louise hated to admit it but… he was good. He knew science, he knew Vegas, he was finding prey where there shouldn't be any and he easily played around them, giving them nothing that they didn't already know. They needed him to slip up, except they want to catch him _before_ he commits another crime… It… It was hard.

Leaning into him Louise lead them to sit on the couch where Nick pulled her onto him, leaning his head to her neck. She let his tears leak down to be mopped up by her shirt as she relaxed into him.

This was Nick, the man she was starting to fall for, torn again by another body in the coroners lab.

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><p>Yes! It's this chapter again!<p>

I'm doing my best to try and re write the story to an altogether more agreeable standard of writing :)

Please review and share any suggestions. I love feedback.

CSI love!


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys! Thank you so much for bearing with me on this re-run!

I have another chapter for you!

Enjoy! :)

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><p>Louise woke up wrapped happily in her duvet. Her dream started to fade as she came to consciousness. She remembered snippets; there was a man from a past case who had hit on her a <em>lot<em>, someone with one hell of a tattoo on his face and something to do with flan. She understood the first two; being off work recently had caused her to think a lot about previous cases and she'd seen a film on TV with a tattoo covered guy playing the villain. The flan was a wild card though. She was sure it _had_ managed to fit in somehow. Unable to solve the mystery at that point, she pushed her dream to the back of her mind to analyse later.

Stretching slightly, she felt a stiff knot in her neck and remembered falling asleep on Nick. Louise half wondered if he had stayed long after putting her to bed but decided she would think better after a shower and got up.

Downstairs, the kitchen was in the same state it had been the night before; half cooked food sat in the oven, peppers and onions lay on the countertop and the knife which Louise had thought of using to defend herself was still in the sink. Starting to tidy, Louise thought back to the night before. She had a vague recollection of being carried and strong arms around her waist and figured that Nick had carried her to her bed. Yet the more she thought about the situation the less she could remember. He may have stayed with her, his arms protectively around her, or she may have dreamt it. As sweet as Nick was to her, was she really so sure that he would stay the night with her to protect her? The TV turning itself on brought her out of her pondering.

"It has been reported that a man is being held and questioned in regards to the recent rape and subsequent murders of six young women. While the police remain adamant that they are getting closer to solving the mystery of these murders they also state that this is by no means the end of the case."

Louise looked up to see what changed as there was a pause in the report. The scene changed to outside their ground zero. Brass was once again being hassled by the News teams and this time it didn't look like he was going to be heard. Louise, hands still wet from washing, wrapped the remote in a drying up cloth so she could turn the volume up. There was nothing said in the Detective's statement that caught the girl's attention. It just seemed like Brass was making the same comments he always did when they had taken someone into custody but were now unsure as to whether or not he was of any use to the case.

Sighing dejectedly in the realisation she was still confined to something near enough defining house arrest, Louise dried and returned all dishes, utensils and condiments to their rightful places and wiped down the surfaces.

The rest of the house was already spotless; a condition of the aforementioned house arrest. Sometimes, Louise often thought, serial killers were so inconsiderate. Every time she felt guilt at the idea but it was in her nature to be out and about, acting and doing. Bored of so many days stuck inside, the CSI wrestled with her conscience for a few minutes before switching off the television and deciding to head to the shops.

The guilt as she felt for ignoring the warnings that she had helped put in place quickly faded as Louise decided to humour herself by telling someone she was going out. Searching the entire house for her cell for over a good quarter of an hour she gave up and called it using the landline. She found it in a cleaning cupboard in her bathroom. She had three texts, each one from Nick. He had evidently figured she was going to try and leave the house as the first text thoroughly reprimanded her for the thought. The second was explaining that he had hidden her phone which is why he knew she was sneaking out. Louise started to laugh at his ability to predict her actions. Her final text from him told her that he knew she wasn't going to listen and to stay safe. Smiling at his concern she replied that she was going to stop by at half past twelve and to expect food.

-/-

A couple of hours, a loaf of fresh bread and a packet of bacon or two later Louise was stood in the entrance of the labs. It felt odd, stood there as an outsider. She was used to walking around like she owned the place and, from her viewpoint, she now saw that the entire group was very good at acting that way. No, she felt like she was back at her first day of work.

It had been a daunting experience standing, watching everyone bustle about. It only served to make her feel like she ought to have pigtails and a comfort teddy. Then had been the moment Grissom swooped down upon her. If she'd known what she was getting herself into back then she would probably have run. But she had attended many of Grissom's talks, thus having spoken to him on previous occasions and so, on the whole, felt more comfortable then not in his presence, even with his backbreaking pace around the labs. They'd just made it to the break room when he told her a joke about Adenosine Tri Phosphate that had her in stitches. She was still struggling to get her giggling under control as Gil made introductions. First to Catherine, Warrick and Sarah. Louise politely nodded in their direction as they were too busy eating and she too busy laughing. Then Nick was introduced and Louise had felt herself do a double take before going very red in the face. She had met Nick a few months previously on holiday and had spent most of her time raving on about how excited she was with her training to become a CSI, he had not once mentioned his job. Louise smiled at the memory of her embarrassment, she had been so mad at him after that and Nick had merely laughed.

While she was lost in her memories, the offending man approached her from behind and, placing a hand on her back, asked her what she was thinking.

"About what an ass you are." Louise flashed him a wide and cheeky smile.

"Hmm. Not with that small smile you weren't. I was here at half past. Where were you?"

"Cut a girl a bit of slack! I was five minutes late!"

Nick gave her a serious look which told her he wasn't impressed at how little she cared for her own safety. They both knew that five minutes warning could be the difference between finding a girl or finding a body. Before he could open his mouth to reprimand her further Louise handed him one of the food bags and walked towards the break room effectively gagging him.

The lunch was well received but Louise could feel the tension hanging in the air between the people in the room. It wasn't hard to see that they'd been arguing over something or other. Plus, they looked tired. Really tired. Trying to relieve some of the tension she decided to repeat the joke that had refreshed itself in her mind earlier.

"Wanna hear a good joke?" The others looked warily in her direction. "No it really is good. Gilly told me it on my first day here." Grissom gave her a curious look for the nickname but let it slide.

"Okay, okay. So a guy goes into a bar and asks the bartender for Adenosine Tri Phosphate." Louise looked around at them, a smug grin on her face. "The bartender says 'That'll be eighty p.'"

Greg, who'd just walked into the room holding a sheet of paper, laughed as he lent down to talk to Grissom. The two were then absorbed in a conversation which the others were seemingly excluded from.

"Get it? Eighty p… Aah it works better in England." She giggled.

"That's what had you in stitches on your first day?" Catherine smiled indulgently at the young girl. "I'm not surprised you went so red afterwards."

Warrick had remained silent up until that point; a conflict with Nick, Louise assumed from their body language.

"I think it was more something to do with Nick that had her going red."

Sarah decided to join in the teasing fun. "Speaking of Nick," she grinned in his direction. "Do you know why he was late to work today?"

Louise looked around confused. "No, why was he?"

"I was genuinely asking you."

Louise blushed at the implications of the question.

"I, I don't know." Why did she have to work with people who solved puzzles for a living? A small part of her mind yelled at her to change the subject onto anything. Her mouth, being just that quick, blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

"Have any of you had flan lately?"


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry it's taken me so long to update, back at uni and it's a bit busy!

Give it a couple of weeks, I'll have exams so I'll be procrastinating :D

Not much has changed in this chapter, most of the changes are later chapters.

Anyway, enjoy :D

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><p>Lunch time ended quickly as Grissom hurried out of the room, following Greg. Taking that as their cue to get back on the case, the team rushed their goodbyes while Louise reassured them she was perfectly happy to tidy up the mess.<p>

A few minutes into her OCD attack on the break room, Louise started to wonder if cleaning was all she had become reduced to. She honestly had no reservations when it came to helping her friends, the lord knew she didn't have any other way to help them, but she felt like she was becoming oppressed. She had spent so much time in the past few weeks staring at the inside walls of her house, cleaning drains and scrubbing sinks that she was beginning to feel angry at the mere thought of picking up another cleaning cloth.

If she admitted it, she was becoming angry with doing anything that was classified as domestic in any shape or form. Her work life was slipping away from her. She couldn't work the case, she couldn't do paperwork due to the news people hording around the building and she couldn't go anywhere else, she shouldn't even be in the building at that point in time. It seemed like the world was against her.

But, considering that, who was she to complain? She hadn't been kidnapped, attacked and killed.

Ending her thoughts before she got too worked up over them, Louise gave the surfaces a last quick wipe down and left the room.

The CSI dawdled as she walked through the corridors, unwilling to return to her prison. She decided to make the time in headquarters last as long as possible and started to track down Grissom. Moments after she made up her mind, she was waylaid by Nick, who appeared from one of the many doors.

"Hey, aren't you going to tell me where you're going before you leave?"

Louise laughed. "Sorry, sir!" She mocked.

Nick just gave her a stern look and began to open his mouth, no doubt to reprimand her on her blasé attitude.

"I'm going to go home." She cut him off for the second time that day. "I'm not going to take a detour, I won't get out of the car to help a little old lady who's fallen over on the side walk. I'll lock all doors and check my windows are shut. And I'll text you when I'm back. Okay?" She finished with a smile.

"Yes. That's fi- What was that about a little old lady?"

Louise smirked and tried to walk past but was pulled back by Nick's hand on her arm.

"I mean it. Be careful."

Louise smiled and turned her head as she looked through the glass walls.

"Where's Grissom? I wanted to say bye before I left."

"In one of the labs, re processing the clothes from the night before last. He thinks he's missed something."

Nick, still holding her arm, lead her down the corridors. Glancing around, Louise saw Grissom processing a shirt, she hissed slightly and twisted away. Nick looked at her with an expression of concern.

"What's wrong?"

Louise pulled a face. "I have that top."

She leant her head into Nick's shoulder, trying to erase the image of the clothing. She felt sick to her stomach. It was bad enough that her 'sisters' were dying but the way they shared clothing styles added a whole other level. It added personality to them. In the way that people chose clothing not only on likes and dislikes but also their confidence, the clothing choice made the most recent victim more like her than before. Shivers ran down her back and she tired to swallow the feeling away. Nick tightened his grip on her arm, momentarily, before he turned her away from the room and down another corridor.

"LUCY!"

Like everyone else in the area, Louise and Nick's natural instincts had them turning to find the source of the noise. Further back in the hallway was a couple Louise wished she had never lain eyes on. The parents of the second most recently murdered girl were stood behind them watching with sad faces.

It was the mother who had called out, thinking Louise to be someone else, the second she realised her mistake she turned into her husband and started to cry.

"I… I'm sorry." He apologised, one arm around his wife, the other gesturing. "You look so like her. We- we were mistaken."

Louise's mind kicked into overdrive. She was used to being a comforter. It was what she did. Just as Nick empathised with the victims, she found her forte in caring for those left behind, those struggling and grieving. Since she had joined the team they discovered she had an eloquence about her which made her words flow easily. She always knew the right things to say, the gestures to make, she read even the slightest change in body language and reacted to it.

But now they failed her. She didn't have the faintest clue what she could do. There were no great words, promises of comfort, nothing to ease the pain in the couple before her. Because what _could_ she do? She was a girl who looked exactly like the daughter they had lost. She was the spitting image, living while their daughter was dead. Happy where they were not. Unharmed where their daughter had been brutally attacked.

She stepped forward, past Nick's arm, and tried. She knew she probably couldn't help. But she needed to _try_.

"Oh, oh no. No. Really. I- it's alright. I'm sorry, I truly am. I-" The stumbling words were doing nothing but making it worse. She swallowed and took another few steps, hoping that by the time she was close enough to talk, her mind would catch up and coherent words would form. "Louise Price, CSI." It made sense to start with an introduction. "May I -"

Whatever she was about to ask permission to do was lost as Warrick stepped forward in the corridor and took her by the arm, pushing her back to Nick.

The man leant over her, hiding her from sight. "What do you think you're doing?" He spat his words out. "Get your _girlfriend_ out of here."

Louise blanched at the comment but, while Nick glared he did as told and lead her in the opposite direction. She half wanted to argue with him, with both of them, for controlling her actions, deciding where she could and could not be, what she could and could not do. But she wanted to be useful and making a scene would be counterproductive.

She leant into Nick. "What's happened there?"

Nick looked at Louise confused. "They were Lucy's parents."

"No, no. Not that. You and Warrick." Nick was silent. "Don't think I didn't notice at lunch. You had another argument right?" He didn't reply. "Have you got too involved again?" There was still mute silence. "You can't get upset at this, Nick. I know you will anyway but you should try and... tone it down a little. I- that didn't come out right did it?"

"How can you expect me not to care? They're _people_, Louise. They're…" It always hit a nerve with these cases. "And it doesn't help that they look like you."

She turned into him and unconsciously put an arm around him as they walked.

"I'm not saying to stop caring. That's part of who you are and I wouldn't change that. Just stop worrying about me and start doing your job."

Nick pulled her around to face him, spinning Louise to stop millimetres from him.

"I'm going to worry about you whether you like it or not and you know it."

"Well aren't you the sweetest?" The words were out before Louise realised she had said them and her next action followed in the same way.

Leaning up she placed her hands on his chest, then kissed him. Just once, she pressed her lips gently to his.

It was only when she pulled away that her words and actions caught up with her. Falling back onto the flat of her feet she snapped her mouth shut from it's shocked expression and let her eyes flicker around the corridor. She struggled to figure out if she ought to run or face him, but the decision was made for her as Nick started to lead her to the doors again, the hand he had placed on her back never moving.

Louise couldn't help but feel really awkward in the ensuing silence. Did he mind that she'd kissed him? Was he thinking about it like she was or was he not mindful of it and worrying about her safety instead? Had she totally misread everything in their relationship so far? No. That last one was ridiculous even by her standards. Her stomach started to flutter as her worry increased and she started to feel slightly ill. Before Louise knew it they were at her car.

"I'll come over later." Nick planted a kiss in her hair as he hugged her goodbye.

Sat in her car, Louise gave the mirrors a once over and allowed herself a smile. All the worry from that short walk having vanished with his simple action. So maybe her day wasn't going to be that good, but Louise did acknowledge it could have been a lot worse.


End file.
